By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
The Val Verde Regional Medical Center’s two boards named Jorge Jurado the new chief executive officer during a specially called meeting Friday.
Linda Walker, the former CEO, resigned Oct. 1, and the boards have been seeking a new permanent CEO ever since. There were two applicants for the position: Jurado and fellow Del Rioan Adrian Larson.
The meeting kicked off at noon and within minutes, the corporate
and district boards went into executive session, first interviewing Larson for about 40 minutes. They then interviewed Jurado, whom they had named interim chief executive officer after Walker’s departure, and by 1:30 p.m., the board came out of executive session and allowed the public into the hospital conference room.
Dr. Lee Keenen, an at-large board member, made the motion to hire Jurado.
Jane Morain, Precinct 4 board member, seconded the motion, and the corporate board, comprised of Dr. Aurelio Laing III and Twila Barnett, approved the motion.
Then the Hospital’s District Board, composed of Dr. Julio Otazo, Precinct 2 board member, and chairman of the Val Verde County Hospital District Board; Robin A. Palmer, an at-large board member and vice-chair of the board; Cris A. Diaz, an at-large board member and secretary of the board; Dr. Daniel Joseph Chartrand, Precinct 4 board member, and Raul Alatorre, Precinct 3 board member, all voted for Jurado to take the position permanently.
At least one board member voiced support for Jurado before the
vote.
“Mr. Jurado has been on the job for four months,” said Otazo, a day before the board voted. “He’s from here, he understands this community, the board likes him, and the hospital employees genuinely like him and he is doing a great job,” Otazo said.
Jurado is the first Del Rio High School graduate to have the position in at least 20 years, and brought a strong resume to the position.
Other than serving as interim CEO and chief operating officer at VVRMC, he has a wealth of medical experience in hospitals and nursing homes along the border.
He kicked off his career with Creative Solutions in Healthcare with positions in Del Rio and San Antonio in June 2013 to April 2015. Then, he went to work with Touchstone Communities in nursing homes in Del Rio and Laredo, before serving stints as a nursing home administrator with nursing homes in Del Rio and Eagle Pass.
Jurado went to work with VVRMC in November of 2019 as director of patient access and then as a practice management administrator before transitioning into the COO position.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Texas at San Antonio in 2008 and then his master’s from Sul Ross State University in 2014.
The writer of this story can be reached at JoelALangton@gmail.com .
